So I'm at the hospital yesterday writing an electronic note at a thin client station by a window (by ra way, their system is so vastly superior to the POS we use in the office it's like QE II vs Pinta).

It's raining outside and I can see down to a smoking area outside the building. There is a little table with a sun shade but it's not doing it because the problem is not the sun. There are patients (all women) down their in their hospital gowns shivering in soggy blankets trying to take a couple of drags on their cigaretters. Most of them are holding their cigarettes with their IV board hands so they can hold the blanket with the other. It is REALLY pitiful.

It looks like a friggin' gulag. The boys at Club Gitmo are treated better. We have definitely gone off the deep end on persecution of smokers.

Just catching up on the AAR, saw this and can top this story:

So a guy I know is trying to give up smoking, and has started using the 'electronic cigarettes' - all the familiarity of smoking, including fake smoke, but none of the nasty stuff. He is really trying to quit but guess what, the Health & Safety crowd and Whitehall Mandarins have a policy for these -

he is only allowed to use them standing outside in the designated smoking shelter area - with all the real smokers

Mmm Government logic and bureacracy at it's best

"Whitehall Mandarins"

I think it is fair to say that the effect of tertiary cigarette smoke is a bit overstated. Hard to believe it is any worse than bowel gas and patients are actually goaded into releasing that evil vapor by nurses. It's even on the patient chart. For C-section patients first flatus is a blessed event that rivals the excitement attached to the baby.

It would be a hoot to set up a sign near the cafeteria that read "Vegan gas-passing area" with a big fume hood overhead.

Why are you still paying retail on penance? I thought you guys wiped it all out in one day on Yom Kippur or something like that?

Dude, one of the first things you learn being Jewish is that you have something to feel guilty for 24/7/365. You may throw a random holiday in now and then to make yourself feel better, but its only a passing fancy.

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"Mighty is the Thread! Great are its works and insane are its inhabitants!" -Brother Mynok

Why are you still paying retail on penance? I thought you guys wiped it all out in one day on Yom Kippur or something like that?

Dude, one of the first things you learn being Jewish is that you have something to feel guilty for 24/7/365. You may throw a random holiday in now and then to make yourself feel better, but its only a passing fancy.

No, you said 'full-time penance', not 'full time guilt'. Let's just say that there are other religious affiliations out there that also have a mortal lock on the 'all guilt, all the time' approach to life. Penance is only a very short period, guilt is forever.

Why are you still paying retail on penance? I thought you guys wiped it all out in one day on Yom Kippur or something like that?

Dude, one of the first things you learn being Jewish is that you have something to feel guilty for 24/7/365. You may throw a random holiday in now and then to make yourself feel better, but its only a passing fancy.

No, you said 'full-time penance', not 'full time guilt'. Let's just say that there are other religious affiliations out there that also have a mortal lock on the 'all guilt, all the time' approach to life. Penance is only a very short period, guilt is forever.

Used to go to the priest to get forgiveness for my sins so that I could feel better about being human. Then I discovered I could forgive myself and feel better a whole lot faster! Surprisingly, I did not become evil - except for the WITP-AE addiction part.

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No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth

Why are you still paying retail on penance? I thought you guys wiped it all out in one day on Yom Kippur or something like that?

Dude, one of the first things you learn being Jewish is that you have something to feel guilty for 24/7/365. You may throw a random holiday in now and then to make yourself feel better, but its only a passing fancy.

No, you said 'full-time penance', not 'full time guilt'. Let's just say that there are other religious affiliations out there that also have a mortal lock on the 'all guilt, all the time' approach to life. Penance is only a very short period, guilt is forever.

Obviously youre not Jewish.

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"Mighty is the Thread! Great are its works and insane are its inhabitants!" -Brother Mynok

Why are you still paying retail on penance? I thought you guys wiped it all out in one day on Yom Kippur or something like that?

Dude, one of the first things you learn being Jewish is that you have something to feel guilty for 24/7/365. You may throw a random holiday in now and then to make yourself feel better, but its only a passing fancy.

My best friend from my high school days (who is Jewish) always said that the Jews invented guilt, but it took the Catholics to make it profitable!

I am reminded of the Halloween party....well....obliqluely. I mean the wardrobe malfunction part.

I just noticed, is that a twin Bren gun? I always wanted to be an AA gunner....no really. The turn is finally off to the ether. Rough week. Everyone here between 4 months and 18 years seems to have a fever of 102 F. It's almost as bad as the H1N1 craziness.

Something bad may happen to our digital ships and planes but it coudln't be helped.

Edit: ...though a closer look indicates the photographer may have taken liberties as some of the details such as the lack of a mount point under the magazine don't look quite right. You might be correct Cap!!

< Message edited by Reg -- 2/2/2013 8:33:35 AM >

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Cheers, Reg.

(One day I will learn to spell - or check before posting....) Uh oh, Firefox has a spell checker!! What excuse can I use now!!!

Edit: ...though a closer look indicates the photographer may have taken liberties as some of the details such as the lack of a mount point under the magazine don't look quite right. You might be correct Cap!!

Think it is a twin Bren, with an unusual magazine mount point. Was this drum an option for AA mounted-Brens or some other field expedient?

Edit: ...though a closer look indicates the photographer may have taken liberties as some of the details such as the lack of a mount point under the magazine don't look quite right. You might be correct Cap!!

Think it is a twin Bren, with an unusual magazine mount point. Was this drum an option for AA mounted-Brens or some other field expedient?

All this talk about mounting and Bren-da Lewis is doing funny things to my eyes and pulse. I suspect the subject is much more than double A though!

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No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth

I guess it is some kind of tropical uniform. Seems like bug bites would be a problem.

************************March 13, 1943(c)************************

San Jose:Shigure shows up at night and is engaged by PT boats. The LCT's which were disembarking engineers have departed. One PT boat lost. In the morning, they go after the the line of fuel drums lashed together that is the landind dock at San Jose. We are sort of ready for them with a slightly fatigued squadron of P-39's flown in from Cagayan. The RCAF squadron is holding up well although they are running out of aircraft.

We won that one but there isn't enough good **** (P-38's and Corsairs) to go around. I found a training squadron at El Toro (US) that had upgraded to Corsairs and used up the entire world inventory (except Peru). Idiots! Had to pay 100 pts to convert them to FM-1's.

The most dangerous part of the passage from Perth and the rest of Western Oz eastward towards Darwin. We have been sending lots of largely unescorted ships and JJ caught on. I'm not even sure where Kung Wo came from. Chinese lend lease?